Michael Alig, the Real 'Party Monster' Killer, Freed From Prison

Michael Alig, the New York club icon played by Macaulay Culkin in "Party Monster," live-Tweeted his release from prison Monday after serving 17 years for killing and dismembering his roommate over a drug debt.

Gawker reports that on his way out of the Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, New York, he expressed his gratitude for the fresh start and later picked up his first meal as a free man.

Alig, St. James, and the crew were famous for throwing some of NYC's most extravagant parties two decades ago, and could make or break a club with their mere appearance. After gaining notoriety, they were held up by many in the media as examples of out-of-control, drug-addled youth. They were invited onto talk shows like Phil Donohue and Geraldo Rivera by the dozen, and some, like RuPaul, went on to have successful careers in other industries.

Three years after the killing, James St. James penned the memoir "Disco Bloodbath," which chronicled the fast life of the Club Kids, and was used to create the "Party Monster" film in 2003.

The works tell the true story of Alig, who at the height of his fame and fortune got into an argument with Andre "Angel" Melendez, a friend and frequent drug dealer at the clubs, that ended with Alig and his friend Robert "Freeze" Riggs bashing Melendez with a hammer. They subsequently filled his mouth with Drano and taped it shut, dismembered the body in a bathtub, and dumped it into the Hudson River.

Perez Hilton reports that after the book and film release, Alig's "iconic status spread to the club scene of London" and that while imprisoned he "somehow managed to release a dance single, write a book, and even take part in podcasts."

His Twitter account was started by a friend whom he would call from prison and tell what to write.